A Verizon-Guided AOL Steps up Mobile Targeting Efforts Through ONE Platform

AOL’s ONE marketing platform has been given a mobile targeting boost courtesy of new toolsets being added today (May 18).

The end-to-end service’s new upgrade will allow the pairing of advertiser and AOL data - including sources from its partners - to target users programmatically across devices. Meanwhile enhancements to the attribution engine will give marketers the insight they need to launch data-driven mobile campaigns.

The targeting and attribution systems are being powered by TUNE and Kochava respectively, whose technology now forms part of the ONE experience.

The result is a service which will enable brands to study the impact of app advertising at a granular level, assessing campaigns on their ability to drive mobile traffic and user re-engagement as ONE gains a far more measurable feel.

As well as being available through the all-encompassing offering of ONE, the company has installed the same enhancements on its Convertro attribution product.

Today’s news is one of the first updates to come out of AOL since its $4.4 billion acquisition by telecommunications provider Verizon.

ONE for all

With the new ONE features, AOL says it is looking to cater for app marketers wanting to take a data-driven approach with their user acquisition and retention.

This will extend to being able to target users currently playing apps based on data from the advertiser, AOL or a third-party connected to the media giant.

An example of this going to work, as cited by AOL, would be Uber looking to target a user of the service that hadn’t booked in a while.

Things get even more interesting when AOL starts talking about progress made in attribution, where the company has now made it possible for app marketers to see which elements of their TV, mobile and web activities are earning their keep, and which are straggling.

Considering this is being enhanced in order to help app marketers make the most of their media spend, and AOL’s $483.5 million from ad revenue in Q1, the success of an attribution feature could provide an ‘umbrella’ offering to rival some of the biggest ad tech players.

Growing demand

According to data from eMarketer, budgets for acquiring app users will hit $3 billion this year, accounting for 10% of all spend on mobile ads.

Kelly Mullins, head of programmatic partnerships at TUNE, believes the technology and tactics for marketing apps is starting to gain huge importance, given the amount of firms that are mobile-only.

“In just a few quarters, we have seen the rise of multi-billion dollar business like Uber, where all of the order taking and processing takes place over a mobile app. That type of success is driving marketers, from major Fortune 500 brands to startups, to focus on getting installs and, more importantly, finding quality users for their apps,” he commented.

“The partnership between AOL and TUNE enables marketers to quickly identify their high quality audiences, based on the events that happen in the app, and then target to those audiences across a wide set of inventory and creative types.”

Don Kennedy, president of advertiser platforms at AOL, also spoke following the announcement.

“Mobile, particularly within the app environment, is an increasingly important piece of marketers’ media spend, and we are excited to expand the options our customers have to tap into that highly engaged audience.”

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Richard Towey

Richard is a former head of content at PerformanceIN. After many years spent covering developments from the automotive, sports, travel and finance sectors, he eventually turned his full attention to reporting on stories from the fast-evolving world of digital marketing.